Aston Villa’s operations director Ian Dimmock has revealed he was ‘speechless’ when Dr Tony Xia presented his Villa Park vision to him and other claret and blue chiefs.

Xia revealed plans to redevelop Villa Park recently and says he has something ‘special’ planned for the North Stand.

And Dimmock was blown away by the Chinese businessman’s proposals. He told the club's website: “When I saw the plans for the first time, I was genuinely speechless. I thought ‘wow, this is absolutely incredible’. That showed to me the level of commitment our chairman has for Aston Villa.

“It will be awesome. Villa Park, as a modern venue, would be a shining light in terms of stadia within the UK.”

Dimmock has already overseen plenty of changes in and around Villa Park. He has introduced digital menus to save supporters racing for the kiosks at half-time and he’s keen to create space in the concourses for children to eat comfortably.

“Time is precious and I want fans to have information to hand at vital times,” he added.

“I don’t want a wasted 15 minutes where you get to the front of the queue and you’re told ‘ever so sorry, we’re sold out on that’. I want to use digital technology to improve the matchday experience. We want to innovate – but we must get the basics right first.”

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Aston Villa’s contingent of non-internationals have been given a long weekend off to rest and recuperate ahead of a gruelling fixture pile-up, writes Gregg Evans.

The fourth-placed Championship outfit have five games in 14 days starting with Hull City on March 31, and boss Steve Bruce wants his squad fit and firing.

“The lads will have Friday, Saturday and Sunday off,” said Bruce.

“I’ve given them the long weekend off and hopefully that will freshen them up a bit.”

Villa trained as normal this week but with ten players away on international duty there was only so much work the coaching team could do after back-to-back defeats against Bolton and QPR.

A further six players are currently sidelined with injuries but Alan Hutton is making good progress as he bids to shake off a hamstring injury.

Jonathan Kodjia and Andre Green both played in a behind-closed-doors friendly this week to get crucial minutes under their belt as they bid to return before the end of the season after lengthy setbacks.

Axel Tuanzebe, Neil Taylor and Glenn Whelan are also recovering from injury and will be closely monitored.

Like many other Championship managers, Bruce isn’t best pleased with the timing of the international break.

“It’s a ridiculous time for all of us," he said.

“We’ve got five games in a short space of time after the break but it’s a waste of time going on about that.

“I’ll not see a lot of them now for ten days or so.

“You’ve got a two-week break then you cram eight games into four weeks in April at the business end of the season - it’s something we could do with out.

“I won't see a lot of them for ten days or so but we have to get on with it.”

Skipper John Terry has used the break to jet out to Dubai and continue his personal training in the warm weather,

Some of his Villa team-mates will also follow the captain over to the UAE.